Francesco Clemente by

These recent works by renowned Italian painter Francesco Clemente prove that his oeuvre has grown richer and more complex over the years. They are driven in particular by an emphasis on color: in some works Clemente limits himself to warm oranges and greens, creating a soft, sensuous atmosphere that reflects his lifelong love of India and Tantrism. In others--specifically the "grisaille self-portraits"--there is an emphasis on darker tones that recalls classic Western painters like Titian and Rembrandt, and points to more intimate areas of the self. It is through this meeting and mixture of the aesthetic languages of East and West that Clemente has produced his best work, and this monograph testifies to the pleasures of an art that overcomes such boundaries in its exploration of psychological and spiritual dimensions.